Fraser Island - 24 - 26 Jan (Postponed)

[Dave]

Due to bad weather, this trip is postponed to a future date.

Hi All,

Though originally a Sundown National Park trip was suggested, a couple of people expressed interest in a Fraser Island trip. My family are always keen to go, so I thought I'll volunteer to lead this trip. Fraser is always great in summer

Trip Leader: Dave
Where: Fraser Island
Costs: Standard National Park camping fees, beach permit, and MantaRay ferry crossing.
Standard: Green (generally easy)
Meeting location: BP Service Centre Morayfield (last one there has to write up the trip report)
Meeting time: 8:45am for a 9:00am departure
UHF: Channel 13.

Day 1 - Leave BP at 9:00am. Have an early lunch at Rainbow beach. Wait for the tide to continue dropping, and head to inskip point (5 mins drive), lower tire pressures, and take the ferry across to Fraser. Then drive up to Central Station camp grounds to stay in the dingo proof camp ground. Then drive around to the famous Lake McKenzie for an afternoon swim, or take a walk along Pile Valley creek (another famous area of Fraser).
Day 2 - Choice of Eli Creek, Lake Wabby and sand blow, Valley of the giants, other fresh water lakes, inland lookouts, Maheno wreck, the Pinnacles, Red Canyon, Waddy Point, Indian heads walk, Champagne pools (where Santa went for his Oz holiday ... it's a book), Sand Cape Light house, etc, etc. The list of attractions goes on and on. There are about 6 days of activity here, but the group and decide on their preferences. There is even an opportunity to do some night driving along the beach at low tide to watch turtles lay eggs north of Waddy Point.
Day 3 - Spend the morning doing more things from the day 2 list, then pack up camp, drive back via inland tracks to the ferry due to high tide. The head back home.

Never experienced Fraser Island before ??? .... this is a great time of the year to go. I recommend staying at Central Station Camp ground, where there is a fairly dense rain forest and is reasonably cool. Toilets and hot showers ($1 coin for around 5 minutes) are available at the camp grounds. Sites are available for camper trailers and even offroad caravans.
There will be lots of opportunity to go swimming in the crystal clear fresh water streams, lakes, and creeks.

In general, there is a lot of inland travel away from any salty sand. Naturally, being the world's largest sand island, even the inland tracks are based on sand.

Please let me know if you are interested in coming along and post a message below. We should book the camp sites asap, as there are only 35 in total at central station. As of the 6th of Jan, there are still plenty available.

Here is a map of Fraser http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/frase ... nd-map.pdf

And below are some photos from our last trip.
Driving down 75 mile beach.


Example of Inland tracks


Creeks at Fraser Inland. It really is full of water ..... very clear water.


Near the Northern point of Fraser. Note the lack of vehicle tracks. If only our highways were this smooth.


Champagne pools are always occupied by others.


Famous Lake McKenzie .... can stay all day here.


Floating down Eli Creek (water is around 25 degrees all year round, with 80 millions litres of fresh water each day pouring into the ocean).


Some of the animals in the creek (if you know where to look). Yes - it's a 40cm golden coloured eel surrounded by fish.


Going home via the Vehicle Ferry (while the family asks "can't we just turn around and stay another week?").


I'll save you the other 400 photos. Just have a look at the image summary from others. A magic place (especially in summer). https://www.google.com.au/search?q=fras ... Pn6KLSk%3D





Dave.

[Dalmatian]

Sounds good dave. Mel and I will be there.

[BenJancz]

Sounds great Dave, we love Fraser Island but Indiana is still too young to take camping. Maybe next year

[Dave]

Hi Ben and Mariana,

I remember taking Fiona (my first child) camping when she was only 4 months old. She loved the camping experience, especially dad carrying her along the walking tracks. She was all smiles.
Then came the drive home. OH DEAR ....... that put us off camping for several months. She cried for the 3 hour trip home. She was happy every time we took her out of the car, but putting her back in was like torturing here.
14 years later, I'm almost ready to laugh about that trip.
But each child is different. It's probably best to try camping a short-ish distance from home first.

[Capella_Ben]

We are a bit keen. I haven't been camping on Fraser before so I really need to give it a go.

Central Station sounds good.

[Dave]

As a suggested trip calendar, we could consider :
Saturday -
- exit BP Morayfield at 9:00am, lunch at Rainbow beach township (we are looking at local fish, chips and burgers from a shop), and then head across to Fraser.
- Set up camp, and 1) go for an afternoon swim at Lake McKenzie, or 2) boardwalk through rainforest and along side a famous sandy creek.

Sunday
- Morning swim at Lake McKenzie, then lunch, then drive down to the beach to head to Eli Creek (High tide is 11:42). Visit Maheno wreck, and 1) drive to Indian Head and walk up the lookout, 2) drive back a little and go on the Lake Wobby Sandblow/lake walk.
- Dinner ... have it near the beach or Eurong resort, or just drive back to the campground a little earlier.

Monday
- High tide is around 12:30pm, so
- 1) pack up early and exit the island by 10:30pm, and visit coloured sands at Rainbow beach and do the Carlo Sandblow walk (both really nice).
- 2) Do any of the inland attractions, and exit the Island around 2:30pm. The drive to Brisbane is around 3 and a half hours.

I've already booked a camp site at Central Station camp ground via the Department of National Parks. http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/

[kazncarlos]

Hi Dave yep we are in
can you let us know about booking ferry and campsite
. weve never been across either thanks Kaz

[Capella_Ben]

To book the campsite:
* Go here: https://parks.nprsr.qld.gov.au
* Create an account and login
* Camping Permit
* Fill in
Location = Fraser Island
Campsite = Central station (note: there are two central stations depending on if you have a camper trailer).
* fill the rest of it out.
* click Continue
* Keep following the process to pay for the permit.

You then have to go into My Account and Active Bookings and you should see and entry for Fraser Island. Click on it and choose Download Permit. Once you have downloaded it, print it out and bring it along.

I think the plan for the ferry is to pay cash on the day.

[Dave]

Thanks Ben, Greatly appreciate the write-up.

There is one more fee, which is the beach vehicle permit for Fraser. When booking the campsite, it should be possible to "Add" another item, i.e. a vehicle permit. It's around $41 for a month.
You should then be able to pay for the whole lot in one go. But you can do both separately if you wish.

Have $110 in cash handy, and you can give this to the guys on the ferry after boarding. I always wondered, if you refuse to pay, will they make you exit when they next land, i.e. Fraser Island. Or will they make you exit the ferry immediately, i.e. push the vehicle into the water.

[louisrankin]

Sorry I cannot make it as I will be camping on Moreton Island